Twelfth Round-up: Haye overcomes Ruiz and B-Hop beats up Jones

David Haye's self-proclaimed mission to clean-up the heavyweight division remains on track after a ninth-round victory over 38 year-old John Ruiz at Manchester's MEN Arena.
As I predicted, Haye landed bombs and Ruiz kept gamely plodding forward until his corner had seen enough and threw in the towel. Ruiz deserves credit for staying upright as long he did as Haye landed with big, trademark rights and lefts from the very first round. I'm not a huge fan of the way Haye keeps his leading left hand dangling down near his waist, but the WBA champion was far to quick for the veteran and he could have had his hands behind his back and still whipped-in hooks faster than Ruiz.
Twelfth Round predicted a knock-out in the later rounds (and you could have got 9-1 on a stoppage in rounds 10,11 or 12) but in the end Ruiz's corner decided, wisely, that their man didn't have anyting more to prove by staying in until the bitter end. It was only Ruiz's second loss inside the distance in an 18-year career. Haye must now sidestep a contracted re-match with Valuev before he can get at one of the Klitschko brothers, probably Wladimir, in a Wembley super-fight later this year.
Across the Atlantic, a 45 year-old Bernard Hopkins beat a 41 year-old Roy Jones Jr in a middle-aged match-up of dubious merit. Hopkins's points victory was predicted here on the 3rd February, as was Pacquiao's recent points win over Clottey at a healthy 15/8. If it's boxing betting tips you're after, look now further than Twelfth Round where in the next few weeks we'll be previewing Froch v Kessler, Mayweather v Mosley and Khan v Malignaggi.

Hopkins to win battle of the forty-somethings

I've got mixed feelings about the news that a date has been set for the long-awaited Bernard Hopkins v Roy Jones Jr rematch. On the one hand, a second fight between these two venerable old warriors is long overdue and even now, they're both popular at the box office. On the other hand, the fact that we're getting excited at all about Roy Jones at this stage of his career should be a cause for concern. After all he's lost five out of his last ten fights and was destroyed in the first round by Australian journeyman Danny Green in his last outing.
Meanwhile Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins beat the much-fancied Kelly Pavlik back in 2008 and put Calzaghe on his backside in the first round of their fight in the same year, before losing on points. At 45-years of age, Hopkins is the older man by four years but always looks in excellent condition and the bookmakers make him a 1/6 favourite when the two meet in April this year. Skybet's 4/5 on a Hopkins decision looks the most sensible option.
By the time these two middle-aged gents climb into the ring in Las Vegas on 3 April it will be an astonishing 17 years since they last fought in Washington DC's RFK Stadium on 22 May, 1993. Jones took a unanimous decision that day to claim the vacant IBF middleweight title but only pride will be at stake this time round.
It got me thinking though, what's the longest gap between boxing rematches?
The former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes has a good claim to being one of the most underrated boxers of all time. He won his first 48 fights and had more successful title defences than any other heavyweight bar Joe Louis.
There were an astonishing 21 years between his WBC title clash with Mike Weaver at Madison Square Garden in 1979 and their next meeting in the slightly less glamourous surroundings of Biloxi, Mississippi in 2000. There were 15 years between his two fights with James 'Bonecrusher' Smith (1984 & 1999). Holmes retired (again) in 2001 at the age of 52.